October 28, 2018
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has encouraged academic institutions, students, employers, stakeholders and government agencies to take a more active role in ensuring the global competitiveness of the Filipino workforce.
The call was aired by Deputy Director General Rosanna A. Urdaneta during her welcome remarks delivered at the 2018 TVET Research Forum with the theme “Exploring New Trends in TVET in Response to the Changing World of Work” sponsored by TESDA last October 11.
The forum aims to gather ideas, conclusions and recommendations from TVET-related studies nationwide, tackle their implications and create linkages among TVET partners for future action plans.
Among those who attended the event were representatives from academic institutions, industry organizations, stakeholders and government agencies.
The highlight of the forum focused on various concepts and ideas regarding the changing requirements of the workplace. From specific skills requirements such as “soft” or behavioral skills, up to the delivery of TVET which may help in the selection of skills and lifelong learning, the discussions aimed to better communiciate the new trends and developments to people including skilled workers and professionals.
In order to go with the flow of developments and changes, the skilled labor force around world need to learn how to use new equipment and adopt or improve abilities, such as interpersonal communication, in order to become competitive.
“TESDA’s National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan (NTESDP) 2018-2022 articulates its objectives and strategies to create a conducive and enabling environment for the development and quality service delivery of the TVET sector in order to produce work-ready, globally competitive, green economy workers imbued with 21st century skills, as well as the need to prepare the Philippine workforce for the challenges in the future of jobs,” Urdaneta adds.
Among the priority areas in the NTESDP 2018-2022 include Agribusiness, Construction, Information Technology/Business Process Management, Health and Wellness, Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism, Mining, Transportation and Logistics, and Manufacturing.
On the other hand, priorities under the National Technical Education and Skills Development Research Agenda (NTRA) 2017-2022 are global competitiveness, social equity, qualification standards and management, support to TVET provision, and TVET trends/issues and development.
Evidence and recommendations gathered through research will serve as bases to form policies and programs to further strengthen effective TVET delivery.
In line with this, Urdaneta asked the forum participants to assist the agency by submitting relevant research proposals.
Ma. Angelina Carreon, Assistant Executive Director, TESDA Planning Office, supported the appeal of Urdaneta and pointed out that stakeholders and TVET practitioners must be united so that Filipinos may better adapt to technology-driven global industries.
The deadline for the submission of research proposals is on Nov. 16, 2018. Individuals, students, local government units and private organizations may submit their proposals to the nearest TESDA Regional Offices while national government agencies, and executive offices may submit to the TESDA Planning Office at the Administration Building in Taguig City.
In the recent forum, three individuals presented their research proposals.
The first presenter was Francis Mark A. Quimba, Ph.D., research fellow of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), who presented his research entitled “E-Education in the Philippines: The Case of the TESDA Online Program (TOP)”. He shared that the TOP can provide skills to those in the lower income regions, giving them better access to quality to TVET courses and helping them learn new skills with which they can apply for jobs.
Another case study presented was entitled “Development of Mocktail Drinks with Butterfly Pea Flower Extract” by Shella D. Bawar of the TESDA Women’s Center. It tackles the possibility of using the flower of the butterfly pea plant (clitoria ternatea) in making low-cost mocktails.
The third case study presented was entitled: “Developing Socio-emotional Skills for the Philippines’ Labor Market” by Pablo Acosta, Ph.D., senior economist of the World Bank.
The study argues that the reason why appropriate jobs are not filled is because applicants, in general, lack socio-emotional skills and recommends that teaching these socio-emotional skills be included in the Philippine education system.
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